Game Golf in funding phase, tracks your round shot by shot on iPhone and more

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There have been plenty of gadget golfing aids over the years, from laser pin finders and GPS positioning navigators to RFID golf balls you can find in the rough. However, few, if any, will help you improve your actual game. They serve different functions, sure, but when you're out on the course, it really is down to you.

Game Golf, a device currently seeking backing on crowd-funding site Indiegogo, is different in that it works much like a Fitbit or Nike Fuelband. It tracks your game in play and provides thorough statistics on each round so you can see what it is you need to do to improve.

The Game Golf GYG device straps to your waist, while you also get a set of tags, one to attach to each club. Before you are about to take a shot, you tap the club to the receiver and away you go. Game Golf then builds a complete picture of every shot and every location you visited on the course. And that includes the bunkers, although not the tree you had a sneaky widdle behind.

There's NFC, Bluetooth, GPS, a compass, an accelerometer and a gyrometer built in. It has a USB port to connect it to a PC or you can hook it up to an iPhone (not sure about Android) to read the data on the Game platform.

The stats can show you what club you perform best with, your hitting distances, accuracy, the lot. You can even upload the results to Twitter or Facebook. We probably won't be doing that ourselves. Not with our average scores.

You can even create challenges for your friends to participate in, such as driving distance. And the Game Golf has been tested by Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell.

Considering that part of the development team is based in Galway and two British golfers have been involved in some capacity, you'd expect it to be available in the UK and/or Ireland at some point. However, the funding process is only open to US backers at present, it seems. Initial backers can get the device for $149 (normally $249) and it will be available in America from July.

Hopefully, once its funding goal is reached, we'll have more news on availability this side of the pond.